Panel: General Cigar can use Cohiba name in the US

Posted on Thursday, 03.28.13



Panel: General Cigar can use Cohiba name in the US

The Associated Press



RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal panel says General Cigar Co. Inc. can

continue using the Cohiba (co-HEE-ba) trademark on its cigars in the U.S.



The ruling is the latest in the nearly 16-year-old legal battle with

Cuba's state-run cigar company over the signature Cuban cigar brand.



The Richmond, Va.-based subsidiary of Swedish Match AB said Thursday

that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed Cubatabaco's

petition asking it to cancel the company's trademark.



The panel ruled that because courts have held Cubatabaco can't sell

their cigars in the U.S, it has no standing to challenge the Cohiba

trademark in the country.



General Cigar says it has sold its Dominican Cohiba cigar in the U.S.

since the early 1980s. It received its first registration of the Cohiba

trademark in the U.S. in 1981.



http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/28/3311284/panel-general-cigar-can-use-cohiba.html#storylink=misearch